The objective of the UCSD Respiratory Disease Program (SCOR) has been to mount a broad, multidisciplinary attack upon questions relating to the pathogenesis, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of two major pulmonary problems: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Multiple UCSD Faculty members previously involved in non-collaborative research dealing with COPD or ARDS have banded together to devise a cohesive program which incorporates and logically extends the investigative interests of program participants. While each Responsible Investigator is approaching COPD and ARDS from the vantage point of his special expertise, each is devoted to two unifying program principles: 1) integration of clinical (patient care) and investigative activities promoting maximal bedside-laboratory cross-fertilization; 2) multidisciplinary collaboration in both formulation and pursuit of investigative goals. This integrative philosophy is reflected by the incorporation into Projects of Co-investigators from Medicine, Surgery, Pathology, Anesthesiology, Pediatrics, Radiology, Obstetrics and Psychiatry as well as from subdisciplines within each (Nuclear Medicine, Physiology, Bioengineering, Immunopathology). For example, the alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency project involves individuals skilled in clinical chest disease, immunology-biochemistry, physiology, radiology-nuclear medicine, pathology, and genetics so that questions of pathogenesis, diagnosis and prevention can be attacked simultaneously. Thus, the Program is much more than a collection of independent investigative proposals. Interdependence has been built in, an arrangement made possible by the common fiscal-administration base provided by the Program. Experience to date has confirmed that the broad expertise of the participants, the specific structure of the proposal, the philosophic tenets which it incorporates and the patient and physical resources available have promoted fruitful collaborative progress toward the Program goals: increased understanding of and ability to deal effectivelywith COPD and ARDS.